Open AccessIs Tumblr the New Narnia? A Few Reflections on C.S. Lewis, Romanticism and Their Relevance on Media and Cultural Studies
Author(s) -
Dinu Gabriel Munteanu
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
linguaculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2285-9403
pISSN - 2067-9696
DOI - 10.47743/lincu-2019-2-0154
Subject(s) - semiotics , relevance (law) , romanticism , argument (complex analysis) , aesthetics , social media , digital media , new media , ethnography , sociology , value (mathematics) , media studies , literature , art , epistemology , philosophy , anthropology , computer science , world wide web , law , biochemistry , chemistry , political science , machine learning
Drawing on ethnographic and semiotic observations made by the author on the microblogging platform Tumblr, this paper argues that C.S. Lewis’ critical literary heritage, particularly his reflections on the psycho‑aesthetic, imaginative value of ‘Kappa’ (hidden / cryptic) elements in fiction, retains its relevance today and can provide analytical insights to contemporary media and cultural analysts. A brief empirically‑informed argument will be presented, building on material extracted from a loosely‑woven community of ‘nostalgic’ bloggers. Their collaborative use of hypermedia, including literary citations, illustrations, animations and photographs, will be analysed, in an attempt to understand the Romantically-informed emotional and historiographic construction of ‘nostalgic’ visual discourse, as represented throughout this specific digital environment.